News Update

News Update
Oct. 8, 2007

USDA Employee Killed in Afghanistan

Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner Oct. 5 reported the death of Steven Thomas (Tom) Stefani, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service employee on voluntary assignment with the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service in Afghanistan. He was serving on a provincial reconstruction team as an agricultural advisor when he lost his life Oct. 4 in an explosion that impacted his convoy near Ghazni.

In Afghanistan, Stefani was developing and implementing projects to help the people of the Ghazni Province, Conner said.

“For USDA, Tom was a respected rangeland management specialist on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. As a rangeland management specialist he worked with permit applicants to balance livestock needs with those of rangelands. He developed grazing strategies to help achieve this balance. Tom was a problem-solver and a tremendous ambassador for the department and the U.S. government,” Conner said.

Senators Propose Minimal Risk Rule Resolution

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has introduced a Resolution of Disapproval that, if passed, would express the U.S. Senate’s dissatisfaction with the USDA’s decision to expand the list of allowable beef and cattle imports from countries recognized as presenting a minimal risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) into the United States, namely Canada.

According to the American Meat Institute (AMI), Sen. Dorgan is joined by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

The Resolution of Disapproval will not affect the minimal risk rule — set to take effect Nov. 19 — unless both the U.S. House and Senate pass it and the President supports it with his signature, AMI reports.

ERS Releases Ag Reports

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released its latest round of economic research, including an agricultural outlook.

Agricultural outlook statistical indicators. The “Agricultural Outlook” addresses a broad spectrum of agriculture-related issues. It includes commodity and food prices, general economic indicators, government program expenditures, farm income estimates, and trade and export statistics. See www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AgOutlook/AOTables/ for more information.

Commodity costs and returns data. USDA has estimated annual production costs and returns and published accounts for major field crop and livestock enterprises since 1975. Cost and return estimates are reported for the U.S. and major production regions for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, peanuts, oats, barley, sugar beets, tobacco, milk, hogs and cow-calf pairs. These cost and return accounts are historical accounts based on the actual costs incurred by producers during each year. Visit www.ers.usda.gov/Data/CostsAndReturns/ for more information.

Rural America At A Glance, 2007 highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure provides information on key rural conditions and trends for use by public and private decision-makers and others involved in efforts to enhance the economic opportunities and quality of life for rural people and their communities. Visit www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB31 for more information.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.